Kryptic's Blog

Thursday, 4 April 2013

First of all - My next gig will be on the 26th of April at the Northcote Social Club with Chance Waters and Mind Over Matter.

Tickets through me are only $12, so please email me on kryptic@kryptic.com.au if you want a cheaper pre-sale ticket!!

I know I've been pretty absent lately, both online and in person. This will often give the impression I'm a recluse or I'm not doing anything anymore. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I've just been busy. Damn busy. I always new that doing things by yourself would be a lot of work, and I new it would take more time and money than my best estimates, but my best estimates were not even close.

I took a break from playing shows purely to be able to try and finish off my album. How ever, the only difference now a few months later is that I passed on some great shows and still have no finished album. That being said, that doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything!

My last post on here, I regretted posting, but then I realised that if that's how I felt then that's how I felt. It's all real and nothing should be considered a sign of weakness; It's all raw, it's all real.

A fortnight ago I threw my hat back into the live music ring playing at IDGAFF for Aural Pleasure hosted by Skandel and Rorshank. I love performing and I always have. Weather I'm on the mic, the drums or the keys, it's the highlight (or should be) of any musician. I think that's why I was loosing some motivation, I just hadn't been up there in a while.

The night was pretty damn fun, got to see some underground guys that I've never had a chance to go and see, broaden my connections, and gave it a chance to showcase my skills to the side of the Melbourne hip hop scene that knows me as:

"That guy who stole 'Cryptic's' name".

(Little do they know I've been playing gigs under the name Kryptic since 2006, but that's beside the point, and another argument entirely).

A song that's always meant a lot to me, "Dancing In The Rain" by Blu and Exile is the best way I can describe how music's been making me feel of late.

Not gonna lie, I'm stressing about this album, and about all the delays, trials, tribulations and set backs.

I've been saying it's nearly done for months now...

I've hardly written anything in months, in fact, I'm struggle to find a reason to write a new song (shit, I NEVER thought I'd be thinking that)

I never thought anything could squash some of the passion and enthusiasm I had for the mic, but these last few months have been doing their best.

Without going into to many details, I need to re-discover what made me start writing music in the first place. 6, 7 , 8 years ago, or how ever the fuck long it's been.

I'm struggling to remember what that is.

Anyway, fuck it.

"Askin' me how I think my projects progressin' and shit

I say cool but the truth is I'm stressin' a gripCause it's hard to make music when this depression existsThey say use it as inspiration, the best of them didBut as the Mc I can't handle this pressure for shitAnd if you ask me stress is a bitchMy girl needs more attentionAnd my record label is desperate for hitsNow I'm pissed cause I'm gettin' out the zone againMakes me start to dread when I see a microphoneIt ain't supposed to be like thatI said I'll be right backI left the office, got a phone and called my partner JackAnd I asked him, remind me why I'm rappin'?And right before he answered I remembered my passion in the pastWhen I was scribblin' in my tablet to box out my mom and dads scrappin'To help me when my grandmother passedPlus the many times I was homelessAnd the times when I was brokeAnd this music made a way when I was hopelessHe told me to remember the rain, it'll diminish the painHe told me not to ask him again cause I know

Saturday, 12 January 2013

First of all over the last few months there has been heaps of stuff going on, both musically and personally, even if its not visible yet.

Musically I am still working on the album. Have had to take some down time from finishing the recording as CMD as a studio has moved. We are now located in Lillydale and have been hard at work gutting the new location and building a 100% custom recording studio/film editing suite that will predominately focused around the independent artist in the Hip hop, Metal and electronic scenes. (For those playing at home before hiphop metal/punk rock was my first love, playing drums).

ETA on when we will be able to be booking clients is still unclear, as first priority once building is completed is to finish my album, then it will be full swing into recording the music that I know and love so much, at an AFFORDABLE rate for musicians like myself that otherwise would not be able to push onto the next level. Theres some pics below of the reno's when they just started. Looks totally different now. Will post pics when everything is completed.

I am also writing a side project which will be an acoustic EP. This is also in full swing in the background!

Personally, I turned 21 on christmas eve and celebrated with a house party. I was humbled by the loving/caring people I've managed to surround myself with. Cannot describe how appreciative and humbled I was by everyone who made the night and my life so special. Lovely pic of me drinking "Goon From My Flask".

I've also just got back from a trip up the south-coast of NSW, surfing, reading and writing. Was great to clear my head for a week and spend sometime with my Uncle who runs a personal training studio in Malua Bay.

If anyone is interested in working with one of the best PT's in the country and in the area this is their page (made me spew during our workout, and I'm a gym junkie :s)

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

I'm writting this sitting next to my engineer and producer whilst we are going over vocal takes for selection, shit is starting to get real. For real, for real..... for real.

For those of you who don't know, I've been slaving away at my debut album for a while now. And by a while, I mean ages. And by ages, I mean most of my life. lol.

Just wanted to keep people up to date with its progress. Aaron Rodgers is producing the album, and its being record at CMD Records by head engineer Matty J.

We're approximately 9 tracks into the initial recording progress, and I'm aiming for 13 tracks on the album (Lucky number 13) with beats coming from all over the world. SO far on the album we have beats by:

Engineer (Canada)

Twist (Germany)

One Tone (USA)

Fons (USA)

Creed Birch (Australia)

As it stands, the album will have guest appearances from DiktionOne, Twist, Flip Simmonds with more TBA when they are confirmed.

If you have made it to any of my recent shows, you would have heard me playing a few of these tracks, ranging from soulful samples to orchestral bangers. They way these tracks have been received live is incredible, and I can't wait to be able to share them with you all.
Release dates are yet to be announced, but rest assure this will be out as soon as possible, no one wants this to come out more than I do!

Sunday, 19 August 2012

For those of you who don’t already know,
the next couple of months for me live shows will be kicking into over drive.
For the first time ever (around my other commitments atm L) I am pretty much booked out for shows. This kicked off this
weekend with a trip to Fremantle for LucidFest 2012.

Note to self: Never fly tiger airways.
Ever. Again. I am writing this whilst on the flight back to Melbourne so the
displeasure is fresh.

(Nekminute I’ll probably be flying with
tiger as I cant afford to be on a plane that wasn’t from the 70’s. I mean,
c’mon how long has it been since you’ve been able to smoke on an airplane and
this thing has ashtrays. Seems legit).

What also doesn’t make me feel to great, is
(whilst on this flight) I finished a report for uni about the Nimrod aircrash
from 2006. Feeling safe.

The way their, domestic flights check in is
what, usually 60mins before. Tiger, specifically stated “Check in BEFORE
4:30am” for a 6:30am flight. Got to the airport at 4:30am, guess what, they
don’t even open until 5. F*ck You. F*ck your baggage allowance rules, f*ck your
attitude. *$@#

Personal bitching about airlines, and
illogical situations aside, we made it to Perth airport in one piece, so it’s
all gravy baby.When I say we, I am
talking about the crew. Aaron Rogers (who you all should know by now) and Josh Mergard.

Josh is our film man/genius/outta the box
advertising ideas man/philosopher. Josh came along for the trip to document
some behind the scenes footage, to film lucid fest, and to film a video clip
for one of our affiliates Chronicle of Perth.

Josh is also essentially the Zen master.
Here are some of his quotes from the weekend, and I sh*t you not. These aren’t
even taken out of context, as the context that they were in had no relevance to
what he was saying.

“Time is irrelevant. The meaning to life is
death”

“If I had a rock melon in one hand, and 12
banana’s in the other and peeled them. Diced them and made a salad with then,
this would be easier”

“I’ve never smoked crack, accept for twice”

“Its just like Zoolander, except none of
this happened”

“It’s a straight back stand up blow job.
When a midget is standing up and giving you head, you eat a pawpaw and the
juice drips on his head”.

^^^^^^^ This right here. Yep. I nearly died
from laughter. Said with such conviction and sincerity. And yes, he said and meant
‘him’.

Anyway, got there Friday and met up with
Vie. First time meeting the dude, had a great time hanging out over the
weekend. Ended up playing a joint set with him, which was sick. Nothing makes
me happier than after a show when people make comments like: “You’re a natural
born performer”, “How do you have so much energy? That was great”.

Honestly though, the set felt great,
getting the props afterwards is just gravy.

Vie has an EP titled “ENTER” that will be
out on Monday, check the first track released from it below

Vie is another affiliate of ours, and
really glad to have him on the team.

Daniel Ray opened the night; have to say I
was very very impressed with this guy. IMO he shouldn’t have been the opening
act by any stretch of the imagination.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Daniel-Ray/140674782671604

Chronicle closed the night spitting his UK
grime inspired raps. I still can’t figure out how he flows like that hahaha.

The day before the show (Friday) we filmed
the video clip that we had set out to for his track “What’s Left”.

Can’t wait for it to come out, it was
Josh’s ideas for the clip, and Josh doing the filming but everything else was a
real group effort to get things done. And would you believe that our lighting budget
was $0? You’ll understand when you see the clip.

The trip was loads of fun. Had a great
time, cemented a lot of new relationships within the Perth hiphop community,
stayed in a kick-ass place on the beach in Fremantle, got a bunch of live
footage. Fremantle you are a truly beautiful part of this country, and I
enjoyed every second of being inside you!

If you wanna catch me live in Melbourne,
I’ll be playing with Chance Waters 31st of August at First Floor,
and then 1st of September with Bastian Killjoy at Revolver upstairs.

Wednesday, 1 August 2012

Well, if you can't tell by now I'm pretty infatuated with this whole blog thing. Gotta say, I'm really enjoying updating this thing now. lol. I suppose we have my housemate to thank and/or hate for that. His blog is starting to really take off, and if you wanna see some great photo's/fashion/ramblings this is his blog right here http://dylanisrestless.blogspot.com.au/

I've got a lot of upcoming gigs (as you've probably seen me post about on FB at some point) and for the first time ever, I'd have to say I'm pretty much booked out over the next few months.

I did want to however put everything in one place with dates, times, prices etc etc... so no one is misled and more importantly no one misses out!

LucidFest18th August Swan Basement Fremantle

This is a FREE gig with some of WA's finest up and comers.
The bill includes: Tektonik, Vie, Chronicle and Ghost and myself

After the success of his latest single "Maybe Tomorrow" Chance is hitting the road again, and I'm lucky enough to be booked as the main support. Tickets (through me) are $8 otherwise $12 on the door. Leave a comment or email me at kryptic125@gmail.com if you're after tickets.

Bastian Killjoy - 'No Country For Bastian' Album Launch 1st of September - Revolver Upstairs

Bastian Killjoy and Wordsmith Presents are gearing up to launch the new album. This night is jam packed with a Stella line up of Melbourne talent. The bill includes:

Are there any sports in Australia that we are so bad at but still enter that I would have a chance of making the Olympics team?

I mean, without dedicating my entire life to perfecting something like swimming, and not needing a lot of natural ability or training that embodies everything in the Olympics. Something that Australia suck at beyond comprehension that by default, I would weasel my way into the team. Purely because no one else tried out. My reasoning basically implied, how many people are really trying out for our national water polo team?

This prompted me to try and find some obscure Olympics sports that I could enter... unfortunately I didn't find anything that I could just waltz into (...yet), but I did find this list of strange sports that were once an Olympic sport: